Satsivi with Turkey and Walnuts

⏳ Time

30 minutes

🥕 Ingredients

🍽️ Servings

Description

On New Year's Eve, every Georgian home should have satsivi. Each hostess has her own recipe — some add cornmeal, others cloves. Khmeli-suneli in Georgian means 'dried spice.' This is a purely Georgian seasoning. It consists of coriander, basil, dill, savory, parsley, fenugreek, marigold, bay leaf, and mint — the proportions can vary. You need to learn to distinguish fresh suneli from stale ones — the latter lose their aroma. Good khmeli-suneli can be found at the market, while slightly inferior ones are available in stores. Overall, buying khmeli-suneli outside of Georgia is not a problem. Usually, we mean chicken or turkey in a walnut sauce when we talk about satsivi. But in fact, satsivi is the name for all dishes served with such a sauce. It can also be made with pork, fish, or duck.

Ingredients

Turkey - 1 piece
Walnuts - 17.6 oz
Cilantro - 1 bunch
Garlic - 4 cloves
Saffron - 1 teaspoon
Khmeli-suneli - 2 teaspoons
Malt Vinegar - 1 teaspoon
Onion - 3 heads
Vegetable Oil - 3 tablespoons
Mild Chili Spice - 1 piece
Ocean salt - to taste
Ground Black Pepper - to taste
Vegetable Oil - to taste

Step by Step guide

Step 1

Take a large bird, preferably a fat turkey, lovingly fed with corn. Place it in boiling water and cook until half-done for about twenty minutes, periodically skimming off the foam.

Step 2

Remove the turkey, rub it with salt and pepper, place it on a baking sheet, and put it in the oven, where it should brown over medium heat. To keep the bird juicy, periodically baste it with the juices that come out or with the broth.

Step 3

Take the cooked turkey out of the oven after about 30–40 minutes. You can check for doneness by piercing it with a skewer or knife: if the juice is clear, it's ready.

Step 4

While the turkey is roasting in the oven, prepare the sauce. Finely grind the walnuts in a mortar, or if necessary, pass them through a meat grinder a couple of times. Separately, grind the cilantro and garlic in a mortar with salt.

Step 5

Grate the onion and fry it in vegetable oil until it becomes translucent. Mix the onion with the ground herbs, walnuts, khmeli-suneli, saffron, wine vinegar, and red pepper. Season with salt and pepper.

Step 6

Strain the broth in which the turkey was cooked through cheesecloth. Pour the broth over the sauce ingredients, bring to a boil, and cook for five minutes.

Step 7

Cut the roasted turkey into pieces and place it in the sauce. There is one little secret: when we take the bird out of the oven, we do not discard the juices that have come out but also add them to the sauce. Cook for another 10–15 minutes over low heat. If you have time, let the satsivi rest in a cool place for 1–2 hours, or better yet, overnight, so the turkey absorbs the sauce. Serve the satsivi cold and rejoice that you had the patience to prepare it.